The ache in the back of Finn’s neck was threatening to bleed into his head and cause a major headache. He’d spent the past three hours on the computer helping a client fix an issue with their server. While he enjoyed the fact that his position as a computer network specialist allowed him to work from home whenever he liked, he had a tendency to become engrossed in his task and not take breaks. Still, he’d always been awkward when forced into corporate social situations. Not because he didn’t like people, but because his brain always came up with the ideal thing to say long after the conversation was over.
It was really annoying.
Working from home was far easier, not to mention he had an unending supply of coffee that kept him going long into the night. He set his own hours, worked when others were asleep, and was pretty much his own boss. The only downside was that he could go days on end without speaking to another person. If it wasn’t for his workout sessions with Eli and the occasional coffee with Devan, Finn wouldn’t hang out with friends at all.
King whined from where he sat beside Finn, looking up at him with those bulgy eyes that appeared far too big for his little pug face. Finn fished a dog bone from the bag on his computer desk and tossed it across the living room, sending his furry companion scurrying across the carpet.
Leaning back in his chair, his hands fell away from the keyboard. Despite what his parents thought, he didn’t actually like his solitary life. His sessions at the gym, while sometimes awkward, were quickly becoming the highlight of his week. Partially, it had to do with Eli’s understanding of his quiet nature. Their conversations were short, and Eli always gave him time to think. And when words were especially difficult, Eli encouraged him to vent his frustration on the heavy bag. Most of those times, Finn was thinking about Leo.
His computer beeped at him, indicating he had a new email. With a few quick clicks, he opened up the message.
Attention Ringside members:
This is a reminder of our first annual Fast Friends: Speed Dating for Youth event. Your fee of $50 will help fund the start-up of our LGTBQ self-defense course. Need more incentive? The first 20 members to arrive will receive a free Ringside Gym T-shirt!
Convinced? Sign up today by responding to this email.
We’ll see you on Saturday.
Zack and Nolan
Crap. Finn really didn’t want to go to that, and yet it was probably a good idea. The chance to get out and mingle with other people, to financially support an amazing resource for teens, and to potentially have the opportunity to speak with Leo was almost too good to pass up.
Unfortunately, if he actually got the chance to talk to Leo, the odds of him saying anything intelligent were low at best. It was more likely that he’d freeze completely, which would be a waste of everyone’s time. It would be better for him to stay at home and watch Netflix than it would be for him to go and make an ass out of himself.
He deleted the email, and only felt a little bit guilty about it.
He managed to go an entire hour without thinking he was missing out. Then, his cell phone buzzed, and with a glance, he saw that it was Devan. How long did it take you to delete the email?
Finn smiled. I gave it a full min. I’m not going.
At least he hoped he wasn’t going. Now that Devan was involved, it was quite likely things were about to change for him.
I know for a fact Leo will be there. I’m working on the attendance list . . .
Shit. This was the downside to his friend knowing his Achilles’ heel. I still don’t want to go.
But you will. I’m putting you down. I’ll pay your fee.
Finn rolled his eyes. You won’t give up, will you?
Nope. Eli says hi.
Tell Eli he’s a traitor.
He says he’s adding extra reps tomorrow.
Finn chuckled, though Eli probably wasn’t kidding. Tell him thanks.
Tossing his phone onto the stack of papers beside his computer, Finn resigned himself to the fact that in four days, he was going to make a public embarrassment of himself. If nothing else, he’d show up, shake a few hands, and duck out before anyone knew he was gone. Devan wouldn’t have wasted his money, Finn would be able to prove that he had been there, and maybe he would catch a glimpse of Leo. Though that would be it, because there was no way in hell he was going to be able to sit down at a table with Leo and string words together.
His inability to speak to people easily had been a pain point for him most of his life. He liked people, he liked being around people, but in the sense of being in the same room with them rather than conversing. One or two people on their own and he was fine. More than that and Finn would much rather sit back and listen. Words had never been his ally. Give him numbers or algorithms any day.
Speaking of which, he had at least another hour’s worth of work to do before he could call it a day and take King out for his walk. He would have to worry about speed dating, friendships, and his obsessions at a later time. Rolling his head, he ignored the pain in his neck as best he could and continued problem solving.
Justin stood in the hallway that led to the third-floor apartments. The odor in the air was still there, so heavy with the scent of mold it had probably been absorbed into his clothing. When he had agreed to help Zach with this project, he should have negotiated danger pay. Or, at the least, an endless supply of facemasks. Dear God the smell.
At the first door, he had to fight to get the key into the lock. The metal scraped against the tumblers, as though it were trying to prevent Justin from gaining access. It couldn’t be a good sign when the building itself was rejecting him.
Justin stepped inside and looked around for a place to set his duffel bag. Nothing had changed from what he had seen yesterday: the same exposed bricks, disintegrating kitchen cupboards, and pitted hardwood.
He’d had a brief meeting with Zach that morning. Now budgets, contractors, and an endless list of requirements spun around his brain. It was a lot to take on, but having an open-ended timeline for completion meant he would be able to do things right.
The first matter of business would be to clean up what was now his apartment so he wouldn’t die in his sleep.
Grady had offered to help pay for some furniture, the very idea of which continued to make Justin cringe. He had promised himself that he wouldn’t take another penny from any Barnes ever again, and though Grady’s intentions were no doubt kind, Justin wasn’t about to fall back into old habits. He could do this on his own. Even if that meant sleeping on an air mattress in a musty rundown apartment while he scoured ads on Kijiji for temporary items until he could buy new items to stage the place.
Finding a spot on the kitchen counter that didn’t appear to have anything alive on it, Justin wandered around the room taking in as many details as he could. While the walls and cupboards were in bad shape, it wouldn’t take much to make the place livable. It certainly wasn’t his old penthouse, or the Barnes mansion in Vancouver, but he could make something of this.
“Hello.”
Justin turned around and saw a thin man standing in the doorway, two buckets full of cleaning supplies in his hands.
“I’m Nolan, Zach’s partner. He mentioned that you had come up here.” Nolan looked around the apartment. “Whoa, Zach said things were rough, but I had no idea they were this bad. I haven’t been in any of the apartments yet.”
“And I foolishly agreed to live here.” If it weren’t for the fact that he needed the extra money he would save from not staying at the hotel for groceries, he would’ve waited to move in.
Nolan took a tentative step into the apartment. “I know the first time Zach brought me to the gym, I couldn’t get over the decay of the place. It’s hard to believe that the building was only empty for ten years.” Nolan crossed the room and placed the two buckets on the counter beside Justin’s duffel bag. “I thought you could use some help.”
“I wouldn’t want to take you away from your work downstairs.”
“Not at all. You’ll be doing me a favor letting me hide somewhere. More than a few people are annoyed at my enthusiasm for the speed dating event this Saturday.”
“That was your brainchild? I seem to have been roped into attending myself.”
“Grady?”
“I’m certain it’s a punishment for all the years of torment he feels I gave him.”
Nolan chuckled. “I promise it won’t be as bad as you think. The Pear Tree will be catering, and I’ll make sure you get one of the free T-shirts. You can use it to work around here. It will save some of your other clothing.”
Justin was a good judge of character, a necessary skill in negotiation and business dealings. Nolan was clearly someone who genuinely liked people. Having him around would be a nice change of pace. “It would be great to have a hand, at least until I can get . . . whatever that smell is out of the air.”
Nolan reached into one of the buckets and pulled out a large pair of pink rubber gloves. “I have two. We can do an assessment of the apartment as we go. I have some great contacts for contractors who helped with the gym downstairs. I don’t think it will take too long to make this apartment perfect.”
Without another word, Nolan removed the remaining supplies from the bucket and started working. Justin didn’t have a lot of experience with manual labor; it hadn’t exactly been encouraged in his household. But he knew his way around a scrub brush, if for no other reason than he absolutely hated a messy bathroom. Slipping a bright-pink rubber glove onto each hand, he grabbed one of the now-empty buckets and moved to the sink.
The pipes rattled the moment he turned the water on, but nothing immediately came out, other than a few spits of water. There was a loud bang as an explosion of brown liquid erupted from the spout, sending Justin jumping back.
“I had the plumbing fixed downstairs before anything was opened. I never realized how bad it was throughout the entire building.” Nolan peeked over Justin’s shoulder, groaning slightly at the mess in the sink. “I have my plumber on speed dial. Let me give him a call and see if he has time to stop by sometime this week.”
“I guess that means I’ll be without running water for a while.”
“You’re more than welcome to use the bathroom and showers downstairs. I’ll have Zach order an extra watercooler so you have fresh water to drink until we get this sorted.”
With the water looking a little less suspect, Justin slipped the bucket under the stream and added cleaning solution. “It’ll be good enough for cleaning.”
The two of them began the daunting task of scrubbing down the kitchen. Justin wasn’t a social creature by nature, but he found it quite easy to slip into conversation with Nolan. It was hard to believe that this man suffered from crippling anxiety. That had been one of the things both Max and Grady had mentioned to him, stressing that if Justin did anything to upset Nolan, he’d have to face a very angry Zack.
“The majority of people are out of here by ten at night, and we don’t open until ten in the morning. The bathrooms are all yours whenever you want, but that’s when you’ll have the most privacy.” Nolan brushed his fringe from his face, and Justin caught sight of a long scar. He tried to look away, but his brain latched on to how Nolan could have gotten a wound like that.
Nolan glanced at him, a smirk morphing on his face. “You can ask. I’m not as sensitive about it as I once was.”
“I wouldn’t presume. We’ve just met.”
Nolan shrugged and tossed his now-blackened sponge into the garbage bag. “Car accident.”
The matter-of-fact way Nolan said the words, there was a large unspoken story to go with them. “I’m glad you made it out okay.”
“Mostly.” Nolan grabbed another sponge. “The scars people can’t see are worse than anything on my body. Those are finally starting to get better too.”
Justin didn’t need to have been in a car accident to get that emotional wounds tended to be worse than physical ones. “A damaged psyche can take its toll on a person.”
“You look like someone who’d get that.” Nolan had his back to him, so he didn’t see Justin’s mouth fall open in surprise. “Zack’s better about things now, but it took him a while to understand my challenges.” Before Justin had a chance to say anything, Nolan’s phone rang. “Hello?”
Nolan stepped outside into the hall, leaving Justin alone with his confusion.
Nolan’s words didn’t sit right with him. How did he look like someone who would understand a damaged psyche? Justin didn’t have any emotional hidden scars. Sure, he might not have had the closest relationship with his parents, but neither had he been abused or completely neglected. Emotionally damaged? No.
Well, not really.
Nolan came back into the apartment, eyes wide. “Ah, I have to bail on you. I’m sorry.”
“Problem?”
“My volunteer coordinator for the speed dating event just backed out on me. I need to make some calls and try to find someone. Fast.”
Maybe his time away from working with the Barnes family had softened Justin. A few years ago, he wouldn’t have thought twice about Nolan’s predicament. It wasn’t his business; therefore, he would simply have kept the hell out of it. But he had a place to stay and a job because of Zack and Nolan, and it was the least he could do to offer up his meager services for a few hours.
Besides, if he was working the speed dating event, he couldn’t participate in the speed dating event. Poor Grady would lose his little bet and have to suffer the consequences of his hubris. “If you need an organizer, I can certainly assist. I don’t have any other plans, and I’ll probably need fresh air after being in this place for a few days.”
“Would you?” Nolan’s smile brightened. “You’re my new best friend. Okay, yes. I’ll get the information together and have it ready for you. I’ll really have to get you a shirt now. I’ll let Zack know.” Nolan’s brain was visibly spinning. “Yeah, this will work.”
“Let me know when to show up and I’ll be there. Thanks for the help today.”
“Of course. You know where to find me if you ever need anything. Zack likes to think he’s in charge, but . . .” Nolan grinned. “I’ll call my plumber as soon as I get downstairs.”
As quickly as he’d materialized, Nolan was gone. Justin’s cheeks were sore from smiling, something he hadn’t realized he’d even been doing. It had felt good to talk to someone whom he didn’t have a history with, who didn’t have any preconceived notions of who Justin McCormick was, or what he could do. Even when he’d needed something, Nolan hadn’t assumed Justin would jump to his rescue, which had made it all the more natural for him to do so.
It was strange. And refreshing.
The sudden appearance of a large spider on the counter he’d just cleaned startled him. Justin picked the spider up so it rested in the palm of his hand. “Not the place for you.”
He took it over to the open window and set it on the ledge near a small hole in the screen. The arachnid scampered away to freedom.
Justin had done his own scampering and, for the time being, had settled someplace that gave him hope. Maybe for once, Justin could be selfish and take a small measure of happiness for himself. That wasn’t asking too much.
Was it?